Tesco says workers in India not exploited

TESCO IRELAND has rejected claims that it is exploiting Indian textile workers.

The State’s largest retail chain described as “unsubstantiated” allegations that workers at an Indian textile factory which supplies it with clothes were earning about 20 cent an hour.

In a report, the charity War on Want said employees at the unnamed site in Bangalore take home an average of less than €1.80 a day for a six-day, 54-hour week.

It said the research, which was presented at Tesco’s annual general meeting in London yesterday, showed the factory’s workers were earning barely more than half a living wage.

Tesco Ireland said it would deal with any issue that arose but would need evidence first: “It’s disappointing that War on Want has once again chosen to publicise unsubstantiated allegations.”

For War on Want, senior campaigns officer Simon McRae said: “Our new evidence again reveals how Tesco’s cheap clothing comes at the shameful price of workers’ poverty. Again and again, scandals exposing UK retailers exploiting garment workers underline that the public cannot trust stores to police themselves.”